On a scale of nastiness the Stelvio, the downhill track at Bormio, Italy, is normally right up there at the high end of the scale. This season, it’s over the top.

Seems it’s a bit icier than usual. “Coaches were clinging to the fence trying to get down,” said U.S. head coach Sasha Rearick after the opening training run Friday.

The bottom of the Stelvio, in particular, offers up challenges.

“It’s fast. It’s bumpy. And it’s dark,” says Rearick of the entire course. The bottom, though, called for some special description. “It’s incredibly icy. They had it groomed and then got rain. They slipped it after that.”

The slipping basically squeegeed the ice to the surface. “It’s definitely challenging. We knew that coming in, but the bottom is much more difficult than usual,” the coach said.
On a scale of nastiness the Stelvio, the downhill track at Bormio, Italy, is normally right up there at the high end of the scale. This season, it’s over the top.

Seems it’s a bit icier than usual. “Coaches were clinging to the fence trying to get down,” said U.S. head coach Sasha Rearick after the opening training run Friday.

The bottom of the Stelvio, in particular, offers up challenges.

“It’s fast. It’s bumpy. And it’s dark,” says Rearick of the entire course. The bottom, though, called for some special description. “It’s incredibly icy. They had it groomed and then got rain. They slipped it after that.”

The slipping basically squeegeed the ice to the surface. “It’s definitely challenging. We knew that coming in, but the bottom is much more difficult than usual,” the coach said.

“At the bottom, you’re two minutes in and there’s no spot where you get to breathe. They tried to control the speed with more turns, but that just makes them (racers) work harder. It is extremely icy. There are a couple of big, crucial turns in there, the lactic level in the legs is about 18 and it’s dark, very dark. Put it all together and it’s a very tough downhill.”

In the opening training run, Friday, TJ Lanning went into the fences on the lower reaches of the course. “He’s going to be okay,” said Rearick, “but we don’t have an evaluation yet.”

The other DNF for the Americans, Marco Sullivan, went out high on the course and was uninjured. The coach was pleased with the performances of Scott Macartney (22nd) and Bryon Friedman who is working to ski his way back onto the team, missed a gate early and got back onto the track to finish up.

Although U.S. racers have fared well at Bormio, Bode Miller (15th in first training run) is the only active American with a win on the course, having won a year ago and at the 2005 World Championships (downhill and super G). Daron Rahlves registered a pair of DH wins on the Stelvio AJ Kitt was second in 1995 and Tommy Moe posted a third in 1993. Chad Fleischer got to tenth in 2001. Of the current U.S. team, Sullivan’s top result is 12th (December 2006 and 2007), and Steven Nyman was 21st in 2006. No one else has made a top 30 to score a point.

“This is the first “real” downhill of the season,” said Miller. “It requires crazy skills and courage. But this race is not the most difficult that I remember, just watch back to the scoreboard to understand that it is much slower than the past. It is a track for tough skiers, it will be a great race.“

The Italians dominated the first training run at Bormio, Italy Friday ahead of a Sunday World Cup race. Werner Heel, winner of a super G at Val Gardena ealier this month, recorded the fastest training time with a margin of over a second. Teammate Christof Innerhofer was second and Peter Fill, a downhill winner at Lake Louise in November, was fourth. Norway’s Aksel Svindal was third fastest on the day.

Erik Guay was the best of the North Americans on the day in fifth place. Bode Miller was 15th, Scott Macartney 22nd and John Kucera 21st. The Americans struggled to finish the Stelvio track. Two, TJ Lanning and Steven Nyman, failed to finish and two more, Marco Sullivan and Bryon Friedman, missed a gate and were disqualified.